Date Your Mate (even if it’s Tuesday)

When you have little ones, date night starts to naturally take a back seat to the chaos called ‘life with kids’.  In fact, the MORE little ones you have, the less you even think about date night. It’s a thing of the past, a distant memory of days gone by.  Besides, how could you want to leave a face like this?????

Heck, even if you WANTED to go out, you are often too exhausted to even think of making the effort to take off the spit up smelling sweatshirt & coordinating sweats. You know, the ones with snot crusties about knee height?  Yup, those.  (This is precisely why there is an entire “Home clothes” section of my closet!) And put on full makeup??  What’s that?  IMPORTANT, that’s what.  No, no, not necessarily JUST the makeup part, the whole shebang…you know, the getting fixed up and going on a date part!

As a stay at home mom who lives in baggy shirts with snot crusted pants and house shoes, its important, even if I am too tired, to get fixed up once in a while, get a sitter and go out to dinner with my hunny.  Yeah, it’s a lot of work and effort.  Yeah, we usually sit and talk about the kids anyways, but I am investing in Dale, in my relationship with him outside of the children we share.  I am giving him my full time and attention.  I am reconnecting with my best friend. I am dressing up and leaving the “home clothes” section of my closet behind!  🙂  And, even though he says he doesn’t care if I do makeup or not, I know he appreciates it, that when we go out together, I get fixed up for him.  I want him to be proud to have me on his arm!

I love that on date night, I can hold his hand more than just while we’re driving.  We can actually walk in holding hands, because there is not an infant car seat, diaper bag and 3 kids walking between us. 

I love that I can wear high heels instead of house shoes! I call these my “Not carrying around a 14 pound baby” heels.  🙂

I love that we can eat our dinner all in one sitting…..No jumping up to clean up a spill, get ketchup, or nurse a hungry baby, who waits to ask to eat until my first bite is mere inches from my mouth. It’s just me and my love, investing in our marriage.

When Destiny was first-born, date night was Friday.  EVERY Friday, like clockwork.  I didn’t know how good I had it!  Then, we had Tylan & Avery, 17 months apart.  Suddenly, date night was cut to about once a month, if we were lucky.  Soon, staying home and renting a movie to watch after the kids were in bed, became more and more appealing.  We were exhausted!!!!!  And for the last 2 years, that’s pretty much been it.  We do our best to make “home dates” feel special, by doing things like busting out some ice cream and waffle cones. And of course, Dale makes a HUGE bowl of his famous popcorn.  Yum! 🙂  Its sleepy, cozy, stay in your sweats, snuggle your hunny, kind of fun.  Don’t get me wrong, dates like that can be really nice, because setting apart time to spend together, is the only requirement.  Well, that and a $1 movie rental!

Dale & I are part of an amazing group of married couples at church.  The name of our Sunday school class is, “The Breakfast Club”. This is due largely to the fact, that anytime you pop your head into our classroom, we are feeding our faces.  🙂  We just started a new study called: “The Surprising Marriage”, and to kick it off, we each wrote a date idea down, mixed them up and drew one.  Here were the date ideas the ladies (and Craig) came up with:

#1   1. Get a sitter for the kiddos 2. Eat at a nice restaurant 3. Enjoy some TV time together 4. Go for a walk

#2  Re-create an original date, complete with front door pick up, and goodnight make out session.

#3  Chocolate syrup and Redi whip to do with as you please, followed by a steamy shower.

#4  Send the kids off, or tuck them to bed, then cook dinner together, eat together and watch a movie.

#5   1. Before the date, write a letter to each other, telling each other how much you love and appreciate them.  2. Cook, or get a meal, to eat outdoors and have a picnic. Read each other’s letters out loud.  3. Lay on a blanket and watch the stars, and remember why God put you in each other’s lives.

#6   1. Flowers for the wife 2. Dinner at Jillian’s  3. Out to coffee at the shop of her choice  4. Home to make out.

#7  Get some food and snacks together, and watch a movie after the kids go to bed.

#8  Eat each course of your meal at a different restaurant.

Our class plans to do this again next month, except have the husbands come up with the dates, so stay tuned for more fun ideas from “The Breakfast Club”!  🙂  (the class, not the movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

We drew number 6, and date night was a success!  Tuesday night is not the most amazing night to go on a date, with school the next day etc., but our next date night may just be another movie night at home, so I’ll take it! 🙂

(Thanks to Nana for coming to babysit so we could go!)

#1: Flowers for the wifey.

Dale came home with this instead:

His explanation? “Flowers die. And our marriage would wither and die if we didn’t spend time seeking God together, so I decided to use the flower money to get us a new devotion book. I’d rather have you for a lifetime than flowers for a week.”   <MELT MELT MELT, Sigh>

The book?  “The Love Language Minute Devotional” by Gary Chapman.

#2: Eat at Jillian’s.  Fabulous food! Excellent service by Andrea, the best waitress around!  We lingered 1 1/2 hours over dinner.  That NEVER happens! 

Here is Dale after seeing our bill…..big baby!

#3:  Coffee at Starbucks. I got a delicious Caramel Apple Cider & a Pumpkin scone. Dale got Pumpkin Spice Latte. 

It’s good to get out without the kiddos from time to time! It’s a reminder of how much fun you can have together as a couple, because regardless of how stressful Dale’s work day had been, regardless of how many times I lost my cool with the children, its time to get back to why we got married…..we love each other.

Plain & simple.

We’re more than just the parents of our children, we’re Dale & Tonya too.  It’s easy to forget that, especially when you have young children, and a new baby literally hanging from your body all day long, seeking sustenance.

Date your mate, invest in your marriage, you’ll NEVER be sorry!

Off to go complete number FOUR on the list!

😉 Good night!

~T  🙂

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Squares

Mmmm, Pumpkin.   Cream Cheese.   Chocolate.

The perfect trifecta of fabulous-ness!

These Pumpkin Cream Cheese Squares are super easy to make and are SO moist and delicious!  Dale wants us to leave out the chocolate chips next time. Yeah, like that’d ever happen!

Photo and recipe from Kitchen Scrapbook.

http://kitchenscrapbook.com/2009/04/15/pumpkin-cream-cheese-squares/

PUMPKIN CREAM CHEESE SQUARES

1 c. canned pumpkin
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1/3 c. oil
1 c. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ginger

4 oz. cream cheese
1/4 c. sugar
1 egg

Mix together pumpkin, sugar, egg, and oil. Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and ginger. Stir into pumpkin mixture. Mixture will be thin, don’t worry!  Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan.

Beat together cream cheese, sugar, and egg. Drizzle mixture over batter. And cut through with a knife for a beautiful marbled effect!  Sprinkle with chocolate chips and bake at 375* for 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy!!!!!!  I know we did. 🙂

Mommy’s Helpers

Project Laundry Room

9 years ago, as Dale and I were preparing for our new life together as a married couple, we began praying for a rental we could afford, BUT, I had a big wish list too.  So, I started praying VERY specifically. 

  If you know me, and know much of a planner I am, this will not surprise you. 

  “Lord, we need an affordable place to live, and I would love to live in a home with big windows, a nice sized yard, a kitchen with a view, big laundry room, 2 car attached garage and room for our family to grow.  And Dale wants to live in the country, and I am not sure if this city girl could handle that, could you help us find a nice compromise? Oh, and unless you know something we don’t, we can’t spend more than $400 a month in rent. Thanks Lord, may your will be done… “

Pretty big wish list right?! 

Nope, not for the Lord. 

  He provided us with a 1940’s ranch-style house on 17 acres with 3 bedrooms and 1 1/2 bathrooms.  It even had the outbuildings Dale wanted, although he didn’t actually add them to the prayer wish list. That’s the “The Lord knows the desires of your heart” part.  🙂  Its only 3 houses off of a paved road, 5 minutes from church, 5 from both our mom’s and 10 from Walmart….

Country AND city. 

 Thanks Lord!

So we rented, and eventually bought this home, and have slowly been fixing it up.  You know the drill… carpet, paint, new fixtures.  Then, when we were pregnant with Tylan, the 3 1/2 of us + 2 inside dogs,  moved to my mom’s house, while we added on a master bedroom, bathroom and closet.

Yes, we still speak to my mother, and Yes, she still loves us.  lol 🙂  We then turned our old bedroom into a playroom and office with a walk in toy closet, which freed up a bedroom for baby Ty. Its been wonderful!   Especially since I had no idea we’d end up fitting 4 kids in this house!

 The latest project on “The List”, has been the laundry room.  It’s country blue,with kitty & birdy wallpaper, and is one of those rooms, that every time you enter (which is A LOT these days), you think to yourself….this is SO not me!     Another issue of this room, was that we were running out of pantry space:  

Old pantry, new pantry door and pantry from the garage view.

 So late last night, actually EARLY this morning, I finished moving into the new pantry.  What a blessing to have all our food in ONE location!  Previous to this, the food was in the kitchen, laundry room, and garage.  Being organized makes me happy! 🙂  Thanks to my daddy-o for a great birthday present!  Thanks a million to handy man Justin, for his super carpenter skills! And thanks to my honey for giving up a couple Saturdays of fishing to finish the pantry!

While we are working out there anyways, we are going to paint the room a beautiful mustard color, and all the woodwork white.  I have some ideas for a big magnet board to display school papers, and a shelf to house baskets and hooks for all the accessories kids come with.  That is Phase II, to be completed at a later date. Until then?  I’ll be ripping kitties & birdies off the wall in preparation!

While we had our handy man around, (thanks for the loaner Melissa!) we had him lay some tile in front of our fireplace.  We burn wood all winter, and save a hundreds on our heating bill, but look at the carpet. 

Yup, burn marks.  Every morning, I woke up to new burns, and after thanking the Lord for safety, would ask Dale “PU-LEEEEEASE, can we add tile here?”  We just need to add a stained wood strip around the perimeter and its done too, just in time for winter!

Well, that’s a peek into what’s going on in the Ferguson household today…….

Next project on “The List”?  Kitchen & Dining room…..$omeday!

~TFinished laundry room here.

 

Halloween or Halloweenie?

  Halloween is rapidly approaching, and with it comes the moral battle I hear mom’s going through each and every year: 

Do we, or do we not allow our kids to celebrate Halloween?  Does it dishonor God if we chose to participate?

Even if we call it, “Fall Festival”, are we participating in an evil holiday that was primarily made to honor the lord of death?

 Here are some Halloween articles with varying views:  What is yours?

http://www.focusonlinecommunities.com/blogs/Finding_Home/2009/10/28/halloween-trick-or-treat-or-abstain

http://www.exposingsatanism.org/halloween.htm

http://www.gci.org/church/holidays/halloween

  When I was a kid, we were not allowed to go trick or treating, or even give away candy to trick or treater’s!  We posted a sign on our door that said “‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’ We do not celebrate Halloween!”  You’d be surprised how many candy-hungry kids, still rang the doorbell!  It wasn’t a big deal to me, we go to hang out in the basement, watch a movie and have snacks! Cool!  (Of course, church carnivals were not so readily available back then either!)

Dale and I choose to allow our kids to dress up in nice costumes, and go to our churches Fall Festival.  It’s a carnival, which means fun booths and inflatable’s!  They also get some candy, but you know me and sugar, they can each have a piece or three that night, but we leave most of it at the church for the other kids to enjoy…… 

Ok, ok fine! I admit it!  I keep all the good chocolate candy to indulge in later.  What can I say? It’s great to be the mom!  🙂

  Destiny goes to a Christian school, and they don’t even have a day where they can come to school in costume. In fact, we aren’t even in school on Friday this year, so it’s not something we deal with!  (maybe they do this on purpose every year and I just haven’t noticed)  If she was in public school, would I allow her to dress up and participate in a celebration of Halloween?  I don’t know.  If I had a guess, I’d probably allow her to dress up, but would I allow her to stay for the party?  I’d have to make sure the party games, activities and movies were appropriate before I could make that decision.  Is it worth all that?  I doubt it, it’d just be easier to pull her out at that point.

  For you public schoolers thinking about taking a stand against Halloween, does it change it for you when you think your child will be the ONLY one not in costume?  Would you pull your kids out of school for the afternoon if you find out they are watching a creepy movie, or something you deem inappropriate?  Or is it just easier to go with the flow and talk to your kids about what is appropriate or not later on, at home?

  Unless Dale and I feel God is asking us to take a stand in a different way, we will choose to allow our children to dress up and go to the church carnival on the evening of Halloween.  No haunted houses, no spooky costumes, no creepy Halloween movies or tv shows will be watched.  We just explained to them, in simple terms, that we feel Halloween is satan’s holiday and we will not participate by going trick or treating or doing any of those kind of Halloween activities.   Then we remind them, that night also happens to be Fall Fest, and they are welcome to go there instead, and celebrate fall, and honor God by being in His house.  

To them it’s as simple as that: Fall Fest = candy and fun at church! 

    When they get to be teens, I am sure we’ll re-visit this issue, but for now, we are all good!  Besides, if you ask me, once they outgrow participating in the carnival, they can WORK at the carnival! I just don’t want them out and about on the streets that night.  Too many creepy people, doing creepy things after the kiddies have all crashed from a sugar coma and been tucked into bed.  

  What is your stand on Halloween?  What are your children allowed or not allowed to participate in? 

     Next Sunday night, our family will be dressing up in 50’s clothing.  Fun, friendly and fabulous 5o’s!  Man I would’ve loved to live back then.

So, am I a sheep just blindly following the herd?  Baaaaa! 

Or I am doing the right thing by finding a middle ground, and allowing my kids to participate, but only if they go to church that night?

 The great Halloween debate continues……

Does me not taking a 100% yes or no stand on Halloween, make me a Halloweenie? 

~T 🙂

4 little Ferguson’s, 4 big Miracles

As I held Paxton in my arms today, I was reflecting on my life, and the journey it took for us to get to these 4 little Ferguson’s that fill our home with giggles and grins……..

I remember as a newlywed, discussing with Dale how long we’d wait to have children.  He was at a commission only job, and thought 4 years would be good.  I was hoping for more like 1 or 2! I was sitting in church one Sunday, and a little baby boy was peeking his head over his momma’s shoulder at me.  My heart swelled, my eyes filled with tears and I squeezed Dale’s hand tight and asked, how can I wait so long for my dream to come true?  All my life I had wanted to be a wife and mother!  I had been a wife for 8 months now, couldn’t we get to the mother part?  Sensible Dale, and his good money management, said we needed to wait so I could be a stay at home mommy.  I sighed, wiped my tears and agreed. Yes, I could definitely wait 4 years, if it meant I could stay at home with my baby. Little did I know, we were already TWO MONTHS PREGNANT!  We didn’t figure it out until one day I came home from work SO excited about supper!!!!!! I had run to 2 different stores to gather the things necessary to make this extraordinary meal of…….

Mac n cheese, little smokies and  fluffy white rolls.

Remember that school lunch?  Man I loved it!  To say Dale was disappointed, would be a major understatement!!!  He thought for sure, I surprising him with a steak dinner.  He looked at me like I was CRAZY!

Between that bizarre supper, the flu-like symptoms I had for a month now, and me bawling over Dale saying he was getting rid of the dog, we figured out it was time for me to pee on a stick.  Yup, pregnant!  We cried, we laughed, we sat there in complete shock.  So much for our 4 year plan.  But what about me staying home?  There was NO WAY we could live off Dale’s income.  With commission only, we never knew when the next check was coming!

15 months into our marriage, little 7 lb. 11 oz., Destiny Joy came to be part of our home, and guess who got to be at home with her from the very beginning? Yup! Me!  God answered our prayers for me to be a stay at home mom.  He laughed at our 4 year plan and gave me the desires of my heart, well before the 4 year mark.  And you know, the numbers never did add up right for us to “afford” for me to quit my job. But month after month, He provided. Sometimes by a bill coming with credit on it, even though I had only paid the stated amount the month before. Or an unexpected refund check would come in the mail.  And man, $50 used to go far at Aldi’s! (like the woman with the oil jar in the Bible) I NEVER do that good there now! lol 🙂  God provided for our each and EVERY need, all because we trusted in Him!  Praise His name!

When Destiny turned 2, we decided it was time to try for another little Ferguson.  I got pregnant in Bahamas, but I also got food poisoning from some bad crab……I was sick for 10 days, oh the misery!  Later, I lost our first baby. 😦  I was heartbroken.  We decided to try again, and a few months later, got a positive test.  Yay!  A little brother or sister for Destiny.  Again, we miscarried. Again, I went to the clinic every day to have blood drawn to follow the pregnancy hormones back to zero.  Again the humiliation of losing a child.  (I don’t know why, but you really feel like you did something wrong!)  Destiny says “It’s ok momma, our baby is in Heaven with Jesus and the angels.”     Now the fear was starting to set in.  I had been very, very, sick after Destiny’s birth, with infection, and spent months in bed. Could it have damaged me?  Was I EVER going to carry another child to term again?  The Lord blessed me with a special verse to cling to:

(  ) = my personalization

Ephesians 3: 14-19 “When I think of the wisdom and scope of God’s plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the creator of everything in Heaven and on earth.  I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give (me) mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.  And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in (my) heart as I trust in him.  May (my) roots go down deep in the soil of God’s marvelous love.  And may (I) have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love really is.  May (I) experience the love of Christ, though it is so great (I) will never fully understand it.  Then (I) will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

The fullness of life, I just knew that was God’s promise, that I would be pregnant once again.  I clung to a small strand of hope that it was true, praying it would be so and done to His honor and glory, begging Him night after night, to let me carry another child to term, to let another baby live down here on earth with me.

6 months later, I found out I was pregnant again.  Praise be to God!   We made it far enough along, that we told people, and I was starting to wear maternity clothes.  Then, miscarriage number 3 occurred.  How humiliating it was to “un-tell” people!!  Now I was just mad!  How could God do this to me? He gave me that verse about fullness of life!!!!!  My life long dream was to have 4-6 kids, and it was just not happening!

I told Him I was ticked, and no longer would be talking to Him about having a baby.  I would run this show myself!   We saw a specialist and they ran $10,000 worth of blood and genetic tests.  They all came back normal.  There was no reason my body couldn’t carry another baby to term.  So, we went home, me more determined than ever, and started counting days, and all that hoopla that entails.  We conceived, and this time I almost made it to the end of the first trimester.  I was in full maternity clothes, and feeling great;  THIS was going to be THE pregnancy, I just knew it!  The Thursday before Mother’s Day, I miscarried my 4th baby in 2 years.  This time I broke.  I sobbed, I repented, I gave it all to my Abba Father, my daddy in Heaven.  I confessed my stubbornness, and my pride.  I laid my desire of having more children on the altar, and stepped back and let go.  What a scary thing to do!  I felt sad, yet so very much at peace. I knew this was what God had been asking me to do all along.

On May 24th, Dale and I reached our 5th anniversary.  We celebrated, as most married couples do (wink wink) just to celebrate, with no thoughts of a baby, and conceived just 2 weeks after our 4th miscarriage.  For those of you unfamiliar with miscarriage, your body usually takes a good 6 months to “reset” from a miscarriage, and prepare for another cycle.  What a miracle! Our due date was February 14th.  Our anniversary baby had a Valentine’s day due date….how romantic! 🙂

Tylan Zachary Ferguson came into the world on February 15th, after 3 months of bed rest and lots of medication to keep me pregnant.  He was a hearty, healthy 9 1/2 pounds.  Oh, how my heart leapt for joy to have another baby in my arms and home.  Destiny was 3 1/2 at this time and SO happy to have a baby brother!  She would sit and hold him, an hour at a  time, stroking his face, and telling him how special he was.

After all our troubles, it was explained to us, that we may never have another baby again, we were sad, but ok.  We were SO very thankful for our 2! We now had a boy and a girl, our family could be complete, and I was going to learn to be content with my 2 on earth and 4 in Heaven.  I figured that was God’s way of giving me my 6 kids.

Then, one morning, I woke up very abruptly, and sat straight up in my bed.  The first thing I thought was “Hmm, since we are out of bedrooms, the new baby could sleep in the basinet in the corner of our room.”  WHAT?  My heart started racing, what a weird dream!  But, wait, hold on…..I HAD been feeling lousy, and bloated, and nauseous….oh my word! Could we be pregnant?  I was still nursing my 10 month old full-time and hadn’t had a cycle yet!  I took a test, went to the doctor and found out……WE WERE 15 WEEKS PREGNANT!!!!!  My 10 month old was going to be a big brother!

Oh. My. Goodness.

Avery Lyn Ferguson was born on my 27th birthday, 5 days early no less!  She was 10 pounds, 3 oz.  Another natural delivery, another miracle brought into our lives!  Her pregnancy was, by the book perfect, with the exception of some leg problems (nerve damage from Ty’s pregnancy), but nothing life threatening to either of us.  I was so thankful for another healthy baby, but started praying that God would allow my body at least a 2 year break, since it seemed to be “fixed” of our previous problem of staying pregnant.  With a 4-year-old and 2 babies, 17 months apart, I was SO happy, but SO exhausted! 

And wouldn’t you know, He allowed us to get pregnant again…this baby due right after Avery turned 2.  Isn’t God funny? He TOTALLY has a sense of humor!  He gave me my 2 year “break”.  Dale told me next time I should pray more specifically.  Like that I wouldn’t GET pregnant until the 2 year mark, not that the next baby be BORN at the 2 year mark.   🙂

Pregnancy number 8, in 8 years, was hard on this ol’ body.  I had more complications with this final pregnancy than ever before.  Paxton was diagnosed with a Complete Circumvallate Placenta.  This means the placenta was not properly attached, which allows a thick, round white and opaque ring of membranes to slowly cover the placenta, limiting minerals, nutrients and oxygen to Paxton throughout the pregnancy.  We started praying right then and there, that God would feed our baby, since my body could not!

Pregnant women who experience circumvallate placenta, are at a very high risk to deliver a premature baby or have a miscarriage. You can imagine how often I fought the spirit of fear those first 25 weeks! I started contracting at 14 weeks, and I spent the next 6 months on bed rest, and once again, saw a specialist.  It’s so hard to not be fearful when you have a history of losing babies, so DAILY, HOURLY, I had to give my fears to Him.  Pleading with the Lord to allow this baby to live here on earth, with me.

God gave me another special verse to cling to, this time through a dear friend:

Psalms 23:7 (TLB):  “(She) will not fear bad news, nor live in dread of what will happen. For (she) has settled in her mind, that Jehovah will take care of (Paxton).”

Wow, how powerful!  And what a promise. Oh, how I clung to that verse like a life line!

Paxton Clay came into the world at a whopping 10 pounds 3 oz!  Not only had God fed Paxton for me, He fed him WELL!  🙂  What a miracle!  The perimeter of the placenta was 95% covered in that white opaque band, and still we had a BIG healthy boy.  I get chills and teary eyed just thinking about it, and the miracle occurring in my womb all along, God was providing my little Paxton with the food and oxygen he needed to live. Praise the Lord!

So here we are, Dale, Tonya & 4 little Ferguson’s….. 

God has answered my hearts desires, and I am living my very own dream come true!  I often think about my 4 babies in Heaven, and look forward to the day when I can kiss those sweet faces.  Until then, I know they are safe in the arms of their Abba Father, their Daddy in Heaven, and for that, I can be truly thankful. 

“No one else knows the strength of my love for you. After all, you’re the only ones who know what my heart sounds like from the inside.”

 

~T

Being a “Yes Man”, I mean Mom

  I want to be a Yes Man, make that a Yes Mom.  A Yes Mom, stops mindlessly saying “No” all the time, and starts asking herself: “Is this a moral issue?”  “Is this an obedience issue?”  “Will this bring bodily harm to my children?” 

 If the answer to these questions are no, then SAY YES and watch those sweet, little faces light up with joy!  If your kids are anything like mine, they’ll say in disbelief: “Wait, we CAN?????”  Yes darling, you can, now run along before I change my mind. lol 🙂  Can you tell?  I used to say no, a lot!

  It’s important to Dale and I, to help our kids learn to make healthy choices.  We talk a lot about those choices, at snack time, dinner time, in the drive through, at a party: “Is that a healthy choice? Or is that too much sugar?” “Did you already have something sweet at school today?” 

 My kids don’t get sugar often, so when they do, it’s a super special treat.  So today, I was a Yes mom!  

For our fruit with lunch, my kids got…….

BANANA BOATS!

With Reece’s Pieces & raisin “passengers” on them no less! 

Ah, the joy on those sweet little faces, eased my worry of rotting teeth and poor immune systems.  Today, I said Yes to a small thing that meant the world to my children. 

Remember momma, to major on the major and minor on the minor.  If I’ve learned anything from my 4 Little Ferguson’s, it’s that life’s too short to sweat the small stuff!

YES!

~T 🙂

Happy Born Again Birthday Tylan!

Ty has asked Jesus in his heart!

Today is a special day in the Ferguson Household!  This morning ,Tylan accepted Jesus into his heart. What a blessing and a gift, to be able to be present for such a glorious moment in my child’s life!

I was on the phone with a friend, whose adult daughter had accepted Christ, and was saying “Oh Praise the Lord!” to her.  After I got off the phone, Tylan wondered, why I was so excited, and why was I praising the Lord?  I briefly told him that this woman was now a child of God, and got to go to Heaven to live with Jesus when she died.  We talked a bit more about Heaven and hell, and I could tell he was interested, but I didn’t want it to be my idea, so I let it go.   A few minutes later, with tears in his eyes, lips quivering, he said: “….I want Jesus in my heart so I can go to Heaven.” Oh, how my heart leapt for joy!  He repeated a prayer after me, and with eyes sparkling, exclaimed: “Jesus is in my heart now!!!!!”  

Ty's Born Again Birthday party!

   I explained to him, that Jesus and the Angels were having a Born Again Birthday party for him in Heaven, RIGHT NOW, as God writes his name in the Book of Life. He thought that was super cool! We called daddy to tell him the good news, then proceeded to call the grandparents!  Calling Great Grandma Beckler, especially blessed my heart, she got very tearful after Tylan told her Jesus was in his heart. I could hear her saying, as she handed the phone to Great Grandpa, “Here, you take the phone, it’s Tylan. I have to go cry now.” I love it!  What a great way to start the day!

~T 🙂

Mmm!

P.S.  Tylan came up to me hours later: “I can take that man’s pill and drink his juice at church now!”  What?? It took awhile, but I finally figured out he was referring to communion, when the usher brings around juice and little crackers. We’ve always told him its only for people who have Jesus in their hearts!

Feeling “Fall-ish”

  I am feeling “fall-ish” today! Maybe it’s because this is my view from my kitchen window. 

Or maybe because our house was COLD this morning when we all got up, or because the kiddos requested slow-cooked cinnamon raisin oatmeal for breakfast, or that we recently went to the local fruit stand for their fresh apple cider.  Maybe it’s because, even when it warms up in the afternoon, there is still crispness to the air.  Whatever it is, I am loving fall and all it entails.  

 I feel so blessed to live in a place that allows me to see all 4 seasons, and even though I could do without January and February, it’s all worth it in the end when spring shows up again.

   This is the time of the year where I start using my oven again, something I avoid as much as possible in spring and summer! Soups are sounding good, but I have yet to make any, so those recipes will come later. 

   For now, we have been trying things with pumpkin or apples.  The kids LOVE to help in the kitchen! I do try to limit their “helping” to non-dinner projects most of the time, since mom can barely get dinner done fast enough for hungry tummy’s without “helpers”!

Here are the links to our favorite fall recipes so far:

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies  A delicious twist on the traditional oatmeal creme pie. Easy to make, looks professional, and has the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor without overpowering. The frosting is to die for! YUM!

Caramel Apple Bread  This delicious combination of favorite flavors makes an out-of-this-world addition to breakfast or dessert! We made a cinnamon sugar butter to go along with this bread. I just ran the bread machine through the dough cycle, then baked it in our oven instead. The apples make it the bread stay moist for days!

Apple Skillet Cake  Delicious! The iron skillet just makes it that much better. We used apples from our apple tree instead of the granny smith. Also, we made a homemade caramel sauce to drizzle over the cake and vanilla ice cream! Yum! It was a hit!

 The next things I want to make are S’mores cups and Pumpkin Cream Cheese squares.  Recipes to come after they get the Ferguson stamp of approval! 🙂  

Happy Fall!

~T

Hello world!

  I am a midwest mom of 4, 3 of those munchkins arriving in the last 3 years. The words spoken most often at my house: “Hello”, “Goodbye” and “I’m Pregnant.”  I guess if I was being truthful, you’d also hear the words:  ”I said No!” and “I need FIRST time obedience” as well. All this, set to the backdrop of , “It’s MIIIIINE“.   I have a 2 and 3 year old, what do you expect?  🙂               

 Being a stay at home mom is wonderful, but really, does the phone have to ring the same time the baby is crying, the toddlers are fighting, I am changing the 2nd poopy diaper in 10 minutes (deja’ poo), the pot on the stove is boiling over, someone is knocking on the door,  AND the dog is barking?!

  This blog is a peek into my life….. I am addicted to photos of my kids, new recipes and I love to “talk shop” with other momma’s.  I am into natural remedies, limiting TV time to promote reading, “Slow obedience is NO obedience”, and making all those little moments count. 

 So here I am, is anyone out there listening to me??????